Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3329: Chapter 3330: Pull Yourself Together

While Angel was contemplating, Little Red’s attention was still focused on Knockby.

It wasn’t that there was something valuable left on Knockby, but rather, Knockby in the cage was crouched in the corner, silently shedding tears.

In its beady eyes, there was an accumulation of water. Combined with its small expression and the slow twitching of its shoulders, it looked as if it had suffered great grievances.

”Why is it... crying?” Little Red asked, puzzled, turning her head.

Dog Deacon hesitated for a moment, then said, ”Seeing a once-familiar figure, only to discover it’s just an illusion... Moreover, being in a strange environment, not knowing day from night, nor the road ahead, feeling anxious and afraid is also normal.”

Dog Deacon’s words seemed to touch on Knockby’s situation. But Laplace could hear that its latter words actually carried similar surging emotions to Knockby’s, as if in self-pity self-narration.

Thinking carefully, it is possible to understand Dog Deacon. What it said about ”being in a strange land, seeing no road ahead, and not knowing the way home” was, after all, also about itself.

However, Dog Deacon has already survived the toughest times. Although it is still a long way from its ultimate goal of ’seeking a home,’ at least it already has a goal and motivation to strive for.

But Knockby has nothing.

Its emotions, its future, its life as a mouse, remain a bottomless quagmire for it. And falling into this quagmire, there are only options of suffocation or more suffocation.

At this moment, for Knockby, unable to see hope or sunshine, shedding tears seems normal.

Following Dog Deacon’s words, everyone thought of this too, and the atmosphere seemed to grow more melancholic at this moment.

At such a sentimental moment, Angel, however, spoiling the mood, said, ”No, it isn’t crying because it can’t see the way ahead, but because it’s lamenting the loss of the treadmill.”

Everyone: ”???”

Those present had all heard Knockby’s story, so they also knew that before Luigi purchased Knockby, it had always been exploited by the merchant Pirush, using the method of running on the treadmill to exhaust its energy to lever machinery and harvest kinetic energy.

According to normal circumstances, Knockby should hate that treadmill, so how could it be mourning the loss of the treadmill?

Everyone looked at Angel with puzzled eyes.

Angel did not respond verbally but answered directly with action.

With a snap of his fingers, the illusion mist in the cage began to surge, and then, in the center of the cage, a pure white treadmill was formed.

After creating the treadmill, Angel summoned a small hand of illusion mist, tapping Knockby’s shoulder lightly.

With tears in its eyes, Knockby turned its head, confused, trying to find the ”culprit hand” tapping its shoulder, but by then, the hand of illusion mist had dissipated into light smoke.

What Knockby saw was, not far away, an additional treadmill.

The moment it saw the treadmill, Knockby’s moist little eyes immediately ceased to water; the dimness in its eyes turned into a bright sparkle.

Under the gaze of everyone, Knockby cheerfully ran to the treadmill, darting back and forth.

Even though this treadmill was different in both color and size from the one it used to run on, it did not affect Knockby’s preference.

Brushing off the previous melancholy, it chirped happily.

Then, it directly jumped onto the treadmill, running in circles excitedly.

Initially, everyone thought Knockby would absolutely hate the treadmill, but no one expected that the result was completely different from what they had imagined.

Because when Angel made the treadmill through illusion, he also connected it to a mechanical music box made likewise through illusion. As Knockby ran in circles, the mechanism wound up, and the music box played a pleasant sound.

Within the music box, a little clay doll danced ballet, spinning elegantly in circles. The thread connected to the top of the doll triggered a bell hanging above the cage.

The music from the music box, along with the delightful sound of the bell, paired with Knockby’s joyful running, instantly transformed the atmosphere in the cage from melancholy.

Watching this scene, Dog Deacon opened its mouth wide in a daze for a long time, not knowing what to say.

Even though it had unintentionally been sentimental for several seconds before, in the end, Knockby’s reaction was like tap-dancing on its soft inner spot. The clanking sound of iron plates was like a mocking laughter, filling Dog Deacon’s heart with depression.

Luigi also watched Knockby, who was ”happily running in circles,” with a shocked face, pointing at Knockby with trembling fingers for quite some time without uttering a word.

Finally, it was Little Red who broke the awkwardness.

Little Red didn’t think as much as the others. She was genuinely happy that Knockby forgot its tears because of the treadmill.

Clapping her hands cheerfully, Little Red said to Angel: ”Big Brother Kitty, you’re so smart; it was really sad over losing the treadmill!”

”Now that the treadmill is back, and it’s even more beautiful with music to accompany it, it must be happier than before!”

Little Red’s naive words not only brought the wandering minds and emotions of everyone back but also let them both tease and ponder their current situation.

For Luigi: Happier than before? No, when it was running on the treadmill in the shop before, it wasn’t visibly happy. Since running on it before wasn’t happy, then why is it happy now?

For Dog Deacon: Happy because of running on the treadmill, was it naturally unable to stay still? Or did the treadmill hold a deeper significance for Knockby? For instance, did a close friend give the treadmill meaning, so that seeing the treadmill was like seeing a close friend?

While Luigi and Dog Deacon indulged in wild thoughts, Laplace showed a look of enlightenment: ”What it cares about is not the treadmill, but the familiar object...”

Laplace’s murmuring drew everyone’s attention.

Angel listened and chuckled, nodding, ”That’s partly true.”

”Just as Dog Deacon said, it has just arrived in a foreign environment and is still very confused about everything, at a stage of fear and uncertainty. At such a time, if a familiar item appears, to it, it is spiritual comfort.”

”And the treadmill is its familiar item.”

When Angel said this, he paused for a moment: ”However, what Laplace said isn’t entirely accurate; what it actually cares about is the treadmill.”

”Because the treadmill is its only familiar object.”

Indeed, if Knockby had any other familiar objects, whether it had the treadmill or not wouldn’t matter; but for Knockby, apart from running circles, all it did was eat and sleep. To it, there was no other familiar object, the treadmill used when running circles was the only familiar thing.

The treadmill is its only spiritual consolation amid its confusion at this time.

Nothing else could bring it the same ’sense of security’ as the treadmill.

Of course, excluding Bimon.

If Bimon appeared here, even without the cylinder, Knockby probably wouldn’t feel sad.

Angel: ”What the Dog Deacon said about the ’future, day and night, unknown’ wouldn’t actually have much impact on Knockby, and the reason is simple...”

Angel paused for a moment and glanced at Laplace beside him. Laplace understood and added, ”Because it’s too dumb.”

Angel nodded with a smile: ”Yes, it’s because it’s too dumb.”

To consider the future, to think about prospects, to ponder those risks hidden in the unknown—all of this requires a brain capable of vast contemplation.

Knockby’s thinking is too simple and can’t think that far ahead at all.

The fact that it can think to seek solace for the heart, to dispel inner fear and sadness, is already its limit.

Therefore, both the Dog Deacon and Luigi made the same mistake... they overthought.

Knockby simply doesn’t think much, it has a short-sighted view, which is why it can have such a dramatic emotional change in a short time, from sorrow to joy.

Moreover, previously Knockby was afraid of Angel and afraid of the Dog Deacon, so much so that it shivered in fear. But why, once the Mist covered it, did it fear nothing? It’s for the same reason: its heart is too shallow, and its eyes too short, covering its ears meant it believed it couldn’t hear, covering its eyes meant it believed it didn’t exist.

The Dog Deacon and Luigi now understood; they thought it too clever.

Luigi: ”...since it has already ’pulled itself together,’ let it continue running...”

The implication being, it was no longer necessary to pay attention to Knockby.

Seeing Knockby was like seeing the old self who thought too much.

Angel also nodded casually; he had brought Knockby out to see how to deal with its awakening. Initially, Angel thought about perhaps letting Knockby join the binge-watching team, but now that it had a more stable ”mental solace,” it was unnecessary for it to watch the shows.

Moreover, Angel suspected that Knockby might not even understand the ”shows.”

Rather than have it use brainpower, it might as well use some physical strength.

Angel, in line with Luigi’s words, returned Knockby to the bracelet space. However, to avoid disturbing Heideland, who was binge-watching nearby, Angel made a soundproof Illusion Mist near Knockby’s cage.

Additionally, Angel added some food and other entertainment facilities in the cage, such as a ”Bubble Sound Ball Pit,” ”Rotating Sounding Broom,” ”Colorful Light Dance Floor,” and so on, to provide Knockby with more play projects.

These projects had a common point, which was to emit more frequent ”sounds.”

This was also to help Knockby train in vocalizing, incidentally enhancing its intelligence.

Though Angel wasn’t too optimistic about Knockby, he felt that putting in some effort was better than doing nothing and letting it remain ignorant.

After settling Knockby, Angel retracted his mental tentacles and returned to the outside world.

Since arranging those scenes took Angel some time, he thought Little Red would go to the Crystal Origin of Dreams during this time. — After all, Little Red had always wanted to go there, and if Knockby hadn’t suddenly awakened, she likely would have gone already.

But to Angel’s surprise, when he snapped back to attention, he found that Little Red wasn’t asleep but was watching the screen in front of her.

Not only Little Red, but everyone else present, including Luigi, Laplace, Sipolov, and the Dog Deacon, were all watching the screen.

Angel curiously looked up.

On the main display stage, Glaipnir was turning and walking off stage. As she walked, she seemed to be saying something.

Just as Angel was puzzled, the screen went black momentarily.

After the blackout, the screen of the enormous main display stage disappeared, replaced by forty-four small screens.

Each screen was aimed at a sub-display stage, and you could switch to whichever sub-stage you wanted to view directly by selecting it.

However, since things were still in the preparation stage, none of the ordinary display stages had people at them, so there was no rush to switch.

It was only at this point that everyone’s gazes slowly withdrew, each with a trace of curiosity on their faces. This increased Angel’s confusion; had something happened on the main display stage while he was setting up Knockby?

Curious, Angel looked to Luigi beside him.

Luigi, as if anticipating this, gestured for Angel to give him control over the Illusion Node.

In just a few seconds, Luigi used illusions to replay the scene Angel had missed.

After watching, Angel was a bit surprised. He hadn’t expected that during his brief absence, a dramatic scene had unfolded on the main display stage.

The story had to start from five minutes ago.

At that time, Glaipnir had finished explaining the Log-in Device. Following the process, she should have talked about other displays or research topics, but she didn’t intend to continue because they hadn’t prepared other artifacts. Even if there were some items available for sale, they couldn’t be sold in bulk, so it was unnecessary to present them on the display stage.

Glaipnir began preparations to leave the stage,

But at that moment, a figure appeared hovering above the main display stage.

The specific appearance of this figure wasn’t seen by those inside the dog house, as the camera wasn’t pointed at the sky. But outside, various tribes saw the colossal body that shrouded the entire display stage.

Moreover, even those who didn’t see its body could infer that it was a massive creature just from the enormous shadow it cast on the main display stage.

And indeed, this was the case.

The newcomer was from the mightiest and largest clan of the Daylight Mirror Domain—the Mirror Dragon Clan.

And this Mirror Dragon dared to show its true form, soaring above Crystal City in front of the Giant City Spirit and countless clans, indicating its extraordinary status.

It was indeed the case; the newcomer was the pinnacle existence of the Mirror Dragon Clan: Mystic Book Dragon, Aiya.

Aiya revealing its true form before everyone was not meant for showboating; rather, he was communicating with Glaipnir.

However, Glaipnir’s conversation with it was shrouded by some mysterious force, and no one heard what they were discussing.

All that could be seen was Glaipnir speaking while leaving the stage.

With Glaipnir’s departure, the enormous shadow cast over the display stage also vanished...